True Horror
by NYaxemaster
Summary: On a remote planet a group of preds attempts to restart an old pyramid but in the process mysteriously all disappear. An investigation team is sent in and discovered with mounting horror the ancient evil that has been awoken, and soon, noone is safe...
1. Prolouge

Prolouge

The hunter began pouring on more speed, trying to get away from whatever the hell this monstrosity was as fast as possible. He wheeled left, cut right and turned another corner again before suddenly tripping over something.

Groaning before looking back at what had tripped him up he suddenly recoiled in horror. A dead yautja was on the ground; he back pedaled quickly before locking his burner on it and vaporizing the corpse before getting to his feet and started sprinting again.

Looking over his shoulder the young male never saw the staircase. He fell ungraciously tumbling head over heels for a good 20 feet till he came to a role at the base of the pyramid. The cold snow helped soothe the new set of aches he had gained from his fall. His masks HUD dimmed and buzzed, static coming in-between bouts of blurred images.

He stood wearily and almost jumped when he saw Roka'thwei in front of him.

"They're all dead brother, that…thing, got them, changed them, I barely made it out" he gasped

Roka'thwei didn't respond but simply cocked his head.

"Didn't you hear me?" Bala'thwei asked "We need to get out of here, we need to…" he stopped suddenly as his scanners finally came back online and buzzed in alarm. Roka'thwei was lit up all over, his entire body showing signs of unnatural cellular activity.

Bala quickly tried to fire his burner but a single bolt was all that made it before his shoulder cannon sparked in protest before dying, damaged from his fall.

Roka'thwei's midsection now had a small melon sized hole bored through it though he stood as if unaffected, at least for a moment. Suddenly without warning his spine bent backwards at an impossible angle before his chest began to split upwards severing where his head joined his right shoulder.

Large slimy tentacles burst from him as well as new limbs studded with horrific spines and teeth.

The last thing Bala heard before his life was ended by the abomination was the high pitched keening of his own shrieks.

((this is a teaser of a horror story I planned involving a crossover of preds and John Carpenters 1982 version of The Thing , state in your reviews whether you'd like me to continue it or not))


	2. Introductions

Rex'ila-chi, was definitely an above average yautjan male. At over 7 and a half feet he was easily the tallest most of the time in a group, but after height more obvious traits become apparent.

From head to toe he is a mix of vibrant and bold crimson and vermillion interspersed with stripes and streaks of midnight blue and jet black, the tips of his long tresses a soft red. Combined with his impressive physique, he had a tendency to be called "the big red monster" when the frenzy of mating took a hold of him during the breeding months.

However, most of the time Rex'ila-chi is a gentle and soft spoken giant, preferring to reason rather than fight, putting his mind first and his instincts second. All that considered he still was a male, and preferred a good competition every now and then.

And so it was for this reason he was grunting and sweating as he and one of his hunt brothers grappled on the matt in the jehdin arena. After sparring, wrestling was the most common form of male on male competition in yautjan society. And right now Rex was doing his ancestors proud.

Khafki wheezed as Rex picked him up and slammed him back down on the matt, nearly all 370 lbs of the red and black males weight hitting him before he was pinned. But even with the aches and pains throughout his body he smiled.

Khafki was always fond of Rex. He had been the hunt leader when the big male was just a scrawny pup during his chiva. Khafki had personally overseen Rex in training and viewed him as something close to a son, and Rex often viewed Khafki as his mentor and father figure.

Rex grinned triumphantly down at the elder male as he offered a hand.

"Had enough?" the big male chuckled

Khafki grinned back as he swept his legs around and locked them around Rex's ankles before twisting sharply, unbalancing the big male causing him to fall. Before Rex even knew what happened he felt his mentors strong arm wrap around his neck.

"You've still got a lot to learn boy" Khafki said patting the bright crest of his most favorite hunt brother.

Both disentangled from each other before standing, panting and mopping their brows free of sweat.

A tall shapely female walked over to Khafki and gently stroked the older male's tusks before leaning down to whisper in his ear. His eyes widened as the female purred softly before standing and walking away.

Rex watched her next to his mentor as she kept walking away.

"Bucilla craving attention again?" he asked his chest heaving.

Without taking his eyes off his mate's shapely rump the older male answered.

"She always gets extra energetic when we're on ships, you know that" he splashed his face with some cool water sighing happily.

Rex chuckled as he looked over at another group of females who had been watching him. The tallest of the group looked at him longingly, a tell tale glint in her eyes. She was clearly inviting him.

Khafki followed his friend's eye and laughed before thumping him on the arm.

"By Paya boy what are you waiting for?" both laughed before heading off their separate ways for the night; sleep being the furthest thing from their minds.

. . . . . . .

Meanwhile at the bridge an old, gray haired elder grumbled as he looked over the information again. It had been two weeks since his team had been listed as overdue, a month since their last transmissions. He had sent out a small force tasked with getting one of their ceremonial pyramids back up and running.

But now they were either missing or more likely in trouble, an idea he did not like.

Regardless what was clear was that he would have to send in a team to investigate. One more heavily armed and ready to deal with whatever potential threat was down there. He turned to look down over the Jehdin ring and saw the big red male walk out with female and her friend in tow.

Perhaps this was the type of male he was looking for…


	3. The offer

Rex was awakened much later by a gentle knocking at the door. He groaned as the lights automatically flashed on as someone walked in. He covered his eyes with his large hands grumbling.

"Whatever the hell is happening can it please wait a bit longer?" he mumbled

"It depends Rex'ila-chi" a female's voice said.

The big red male sat up to see two elite guards in full armor standing in front of the doorway to his room. He immediately stood up and shook his head to clear his mind. Elite guards were usually reserved for dealing with unruly males or very serious situations, there vast height, up to nearly ten feet in some cases, made them a very strong deterrent for anyone thinking of causing problems.

"You've been summoned along with your hunt brothers" the ranking elite said

"What for?" he asked curious

"We aren't at liberty to discuss that, just get dressed and meet us outside" the first said before walking out.

"And cover _that _up too while you're at it" the other said pointing to Rexes groin before walking out.

He stared down feeling a wave a heat pass over his face in embarrassment. He had forgotten to cover himself and his penis hung limply between his legs.

After a moment he walked out with his basic armor and codpiece on, holding his mask in the crook of his arm.

A big hand came down on his shoulder as the subordinate elite whispered in his ear "I hope you showed my younger sister a good time big man"

Rex gulped and blanched visibly, his usually dark black and red face faded momentarily to a pasty grey and pink before he started to walk forward.

The walk was a long one, even in space there was still morning and night, and it was still early morning right now, not many people were up and about. The footsteps of he and his companions echoed eerily in the metal corridor, bouncing off the walls and fading to a ghostly clicking.

Rex fought an involuntary shiver that crawled its way up his spine. He was guided to an elevator and stepped inside. It was again eerily silent as he and the two guards descended down to the elders quarters.

Unlike most Ooman ships, the Jag'd'ja atoll ships command and control centers were located deep within the middle and back of the ship, designed so control systems were well protected from nearly all types of attack.

Rex had never been down here, only elders, arbitrators and elite guards were allowed. Down here was even more eerie than above. There were no windows, large power cables ran the length of each wall, glowing in shades of pale blue and white, the energy coursing through them causing them to pulsate gently with light and making a continuous beating sound, like the soft thumps of a heart.

For Rex it was a rather visceral experience, like he was literally in the belly of the beast.

He was brought into a private room and told to sit and wait.

He sat and waited, but how much time went by? Minutes? Hours? He couldn't tell in this place, there was no sense of time, the lights would just throb and beat but how many times had it happened?

He jumped when the door opened again, but sighed as he saw Khafki walk in before the door closed again.

As the older male sat down Rex was about to speak to him when a door from the other end of the room opened up and an old, gnarled, grey-haired elder walked in and seated himself across from them. He held a data file in front of him and read through it without looking up at either Rex or Khafki.

Both males glanced at each other before back at the elder, not sure of what to do.

"So…." The elder began looking up at both of the males. "I've reviewed the information on you two. Most…impressive" he said the last part with almost a hiss.

"What…exactly are we here for?" Khafki asked suspiciously.

"You're not in trouble so you both can relax" the elder said waving a wrinkled hand at them. The two guards behind the males bowed and exited the room.

But neither Khafki, nor Rex relaxed a muscle.

"You didn't answer my question sir, why are we here?" Khafki asked again.

The elder sighed placing the file on the table and looking across to the younger males.

"You're both experts in tracking and reconnaissance, great field hunters, and lead one of the best teams in this area of the galaxy, such great praise deserves my attention" he smiled

"So… you want us to find something?" Rex guessed

The elder turned his gaze to the big male "Or someone?" Rex added hoping not to look foolish.

The elder pulled one mandible across the other slowly before switching, a yautjan version of twiddling ones thumbs while thinking.

"Find someone…" the elder repeated Rexes words. "Yes, a great many some ones"

"A hunting party?" Khafki offered

"A survey team" the elder corrected turning around to face the wall before continuing.

"We have lost contact with them and their last message was over two weeks ago, they were officially overdue for return as of last night, we are afraid something may have happened to them"

"What were they surveying?" Rex asked

"A dormant pyramid on a remoter planet in the shadow system, our purpose was to see if it was still capable of being returned to operational status for chiva hunts" the elder answered again, still not facing them

"Did they encounter any dormant kainde amedha eggs?" Khafki asked

"No" the elder said quickly "All traces of our traditional prey was gone, and had been for some time, but in their last report they had claimed they DID find…something" he finished pausing before the last word.

Both Rex and Khafki clasped their mandibles tight together as their eyes narrowed, it was Rex who spoke up.

"What _**KIND **_of 'something'?" he asked with a bit of a growl. It was always viewed as disrespectful to be misleading or sneaky with another yautja.

"We're not sure, they said they would give a report in their next message, but as I said it never came" the elder said turning back around.

"So what do you need us for?" Rex asked huffing a bit.

The elder smiled again. "As I said, your team is recommended as the best in tracking and hunting, I want you to go in and find my team and report back to me, simple"

"I don't think so" Khafki said with a growl. Rex reached over to put a steadying hand on his mentor.

"Our team doesn't take orders or go blindly into hells mouth for no reason, and this whole thing _**stinks **_of bad news, what's in it for us?"

The elder pushed a small piece of paper forward, a list of some of the best hunting provinces in the universe and an image of a large ship.

"Your choice of any permanent camps in any of these sites and a new ship for you and your team" the elder said with a smile.

Rex was nearly drooling as he looked over some of the hunting sites. Paradise, Amano, Goliath, Kil'kran, and many more, some hunted by the highest and most legendary of yautja. Even the seasoned and experienced Khafki was feeling his head swim a bit at the offer.

"So…do we have a deal?"

. . . . . .

Two days later, six yautja were marching through a raging blizzard, their tresses flapping wildly in the wind. Rex and Khafki kept scanning the distance for any sign of their waypoint but even with their helmets it was hard.

"Someone please explain to me again exactly what the fuck I'm freezing my tits off for out here?" a growling voice cut through the coms on their helmets.

Rex chuckled, the voice belonged Boma'la. She was a tall and well-built huntress, her arms much thicker and muscular than most. She was the teams medic and research expert, and always one of the most foul mouthed.

"Why don't just shut up?" Rex offered "besides I thought you liked the cold?" he said turning to stare at the tall busty female.

"I don't mind the cold Rex, but I DO mind when it's so goddamn blustery I think my nipples are going to rip through my chest plate" she snapped putting her hands on her hips before suddenly shivering as another strong gust blew past.

She was pushed to the side as a bullish male pushed past "Don't fucking tease me like that, it aint funny" Kha'bj-te grumbled. He was the youngest in the group but by far the strongest and fiercest after Rex. He was still a young male however and had not yet gotten the best chances for breeding rights and was constantly upset when Boma bragged about her sex life.

The last two in the group laughed at the smaller male. Hult'ah and Vor'mekta, were twin brothers and the teams mechanics and tech specialists. All together when each individual wasn't fighting each other they were a very cohesive team.

"All of you just shut up, we're hear" Khafki said pointing to a large behemoth of a structure in the distance. They had just reached the base of the pyramid.

(PLEASE REVIEW! I LIKE REVIEWS!)


	4. Bodies

Rex brought his custom spear gun to bear and loaded it as they came in sight of the camp. Likewise the rest of the team brought their weapons to bear. Khafki readied a small handheld plasma pistol and the rest switched on their plasma cannons.

A group of structures was erected in the distance, each individually set up before being linked together by walkways to form a complex, all in all the roughly ship sized building looked deserted.

Rex took the point as they approached the buildings. Khafki crouched next to him scanning for anything.

"Take one of the twins and get to where you can call our ship in then meet us back here" Rex said not breaking his eyes from the front of the complex. Khafki patted his shoulder and began to walk back, tapping Boma on her shoulder before meeting with one of the twins and heading back the way they came.

The big female came up behind Rex and crouched next to him.

"What's the plan red?" she asked

"You stick with me and Hult'ah and Kha follow behind us, we'll do a sweep of the building than wait for Khafki"

Rex brought his spear gun up to cover Hult'ah as he went over and checked the door. He stood after a moment, shook his head, and waved Rex, Boma, and Kha over to him.

"Well?" Rex asked the skinny technician.

"Circuits are fried, nothing electronic is going to open it, looks like it's up to you muscles" Hult'ah said.

Turning to Boma he handed her his spear gun "Keep me covered?" he asked

"More than I did our first time?" she joked accepting the weapon.

"Just watch my back" Rex mumbled

She smiled under her mask as she said "You know I prefer your ass"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP ALREADY!" Kha'bj-te hissed at her.

Walking up to the door Rex rubbed his palms together before grabbing a hold of the raised portions of the door. Taking a deep breath he squared his feet and began to pull.

At first there was no visible sign of anything happening, but as they watched they could see the veins in Rexes massive arms bulge out and snake up his forearms and rock like biceps. Suddenly the huge panel bent a few degrees, than a few more. At the minute mark there was a loud groaning as the metal bent under Rex'ila-chi's merciless brute strength before a loud pop as it came free.

There was a soft squishing thud though as the burnt mangled remains of a corpse slumped out from the door.

A loud clang was heard as Rex dropped the door and backed away from remains. "The fuck is THAT!" he yelled, slightly hysteric.

Boma was already at his side and had given back his spear gun as she examined the remains, all the while Rex kept his gun trained on it.

"I have no idea what in Paya's name this is, but it seems to be yautjan" Boma said quietly, shocked, intrigued and repulsed all at once by what was in front of her.

"No way man" Kha'bj-te said shaking his head as he stared at the mangled burnt corpse. "No way, that thing aint one of us" he said his normally gruff voice higher in pitch, understandably nervous.

"The kid's right, look at that fuckin thing" Rex said as he bent down and put the muzzle of his gun to the large hole in what seemed to be the chest. A wet crunching sound was heard as he levered it open and looked inside.

"It looks more like a mouth than his chest, and where are all his fucking organs?" Hult'ah spoke up. "I might be some low rank wire jockey but I know that even a gutless pussy of a yautja has organs, so where are his?" he asked.

Boma stood up throwing a medic cloth around the body. "I have no clue, I'll get a better look once we clear the complex" she said standing up and they all faced the now opened and dark hallway.

"I've got point" Rex said switching his vision mode to high resolution and advancing with his rifle ready. After he was about 5 feet in Boma followed, her own spear gun ready now, then Kha'bj-te, then Hult'ah.

Slowly they began their sweep of the inner complex.

Rex began checking doors while his scanners relayed info of the complex. Crouching he addressed the others without turning around. "The main power control box is in the room just ahead, once I get that turned Boma and I will get the computers back online, Hult'ah, you and Kha'bj-te do a clean sweep of the rest of this place and relay anything you find back to us"

"You got it big guy" the skinny tech nodded and proceeded down the opposite end of the wing.

After a few tense but uneventful moments Rex had the power back on and switched the lights on over the whole complex. But upon seeing what was in the power room, he wished he'd left them off.

He stared, wide eyed in horror under his mask. Blood was everywhere, long past glowing it was now a dull green, all over the floors, the equipment, and long trails leading out of the room and into the hallway.

"By the gods" Boma whispered in fear, no longer bothering to hide it.

Rex just stared gripping his weapon tighter "There are no gods here…" he said flatly staring at the massacre in front of him "… not anymore"

"Hey boss" Hult'ah called over the coms.

"What is it?" Rex said

"We found someone" Hult'ah said quietly

"He like the last one?" Rex asked picking up on the fear in his friends voice.

"No, but it isn't gonna make this any better" Hult'ah finished.

. . . . . . .

The frozen body lay slumped back in the chair, his eyes closed and his mandibles tucked tight across his face. His throat had a large gash across it and frozen green blood was caked all down his chest.

Rex looked from the suicide to his friends.

"We found this in his hand" Kha'bj-te said handing Rex a small journal.

Shouldering his rifle Rex read aloud from the hand written entries.

_It's free now. I fear nearly all of my crew has either been changed or is dead. Even in the deepest depths of hell no creature like this could ever exist, the gods would not allow it. No one is safe now, it can be anyone, anything, as long as it can touch you, it will become you. No one is safe now, I only pray that whoever finds this can wipe it out. I see how foolish my hope is. This is a monster which can't be stopped, can't be killed. It knows neither reason nor compassion, truly soulless. What fools we were, we unleashed the devil. I only die knowing it won't take me over. It's coming down the hall. Goodbye world, may Paya have mercy on your souls._

As Rex flipped through the rest of the pages Kha'bj-te summed everyone's thoughts up. "I knew we shouldn't have fucking come here"

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	5. Questions

Rex flipped through the pages of the journal as the rest stood around awkwardly, not feeling at all comfortable with the words from the journal.

Rex looked up and over the rest and spoke after slipping the journal in his belt "Look this changes nothing, understand? We're professionals and we have a job to do" he spoke clearly slinging his spear gun, across his back.

"Hult'ah is the radio running?" he asked to small brown skinned male, who shook his head in response.

"Then light a fire under your ass and get it running, the sooner the better, the rest of you, search for the rest of the bodies and then reports, on the site, findings, medical reports, I'll get to work on patching up the holes and wreckage and scavenging any gear I can find, now move it, the sooner we get everything figured out and get the word out that this place is ok the sooner we got off this rock" Rex finished resolutely. As the rest left the big male took one last look at the corpse from which they'd freed the journal.

Kneeling he looked into the frozen orbs that were once this mans eyes. "What the hell did you find you poor fool? What drives a man to such fear he kills himself rather than face it?" shifting to stand again Rex paused, there was something in the clutched hand of the scientist. Grunting a bit Rex managed to break the fingers open and pulled out the small cloth, hastily scrawled on it were just two words "Fire. Cells". Looking up he stared at the corpse, the back of his mind called up the image of the mangled husk they first saw when he prized the door free, while bloody and a mess, it had been charred, as if bathed in flame.

Folding up the cloth, he turned and walked back out of the room, turning he gave one last look around before shutting the lights off and walking to the medical wing. As the sounds of his footsteps receded a soft squishing, dripping sound could be heard as something descended from the ceiling…

. . . . . .

Khafki and Vor'mekta were at the ship and quickly brushed off the cold from their limbs as they radioed in to Hul'tah.

"Tell Rex we have the ship and we're heading in, over" Vor'mekta called in.

There was static on the other end and Vor'mekta tried again "Hul'tah are you there? Come in, over" he waited a moment before something faint came in.

"I'm here….better hurry….storms…bad….land in the…away from the complex, over" Hul'tahs voice came in.

"Can do, we'll put her down on the leeward side of the base. Any news to report? Over" Vor'mekta said as Khafki guided the ship slowly.

More silence came through and the older male grumbled from the other side of the seat "Either that pup has gotten worse hearing then me or this storm really is getting that bad"

"I heard that….you guys just…sooner the better-wait…I just saw….not yautjan…gonna check it…over and out" was all that they heard from Hul'tah before the radio went silent.

Vor'mekta looked from the radio to Khafki, who suddenly punched the throttle to full.

. . . . . . .

"So what you're trying to tell me is that besides the fact that this man is without any organs, and has been burnt to death, there is something wrong with him?" Rex said folding his arms across his chest.

"Yes. According to medical records there are several things that should be obvious on him, even in this condition" Boma said as she walked over and brought up a display of the X-rays she had taken and showed them to Rex.

"Look at the bones in his legs, shoulders and arms" she said as she pointed to them

Rex studied the images thoroughly. "They look fine to me"

"That's just it, this male is old enough to have been through his chiva and many solo hunts, all the medical records show that each of the males here had experienced, at the very least, several broken bones in their history" she explained

"Ok so they healed well, no big deal Boma" Rex said wondering what she was trying to explain.

"No Rex. Even the most perfect healed fractures leave scars on the bone, and this body has none. NONE AT ALL, Rex" she said emphasizing the last few words.

"So, what? You're saying this guys skeleton is too perfect?" Rex said raising a brow.

"It was like it was brand new Rex, no signs of wear or scarring" she said pulling up more files to look through as she mumbled to herself "These scanners must be off, the cells aren't reading right at all"

Rex suddenly snapped up "What was that? What about the cells?" he said walking over to look at her scans.

"What? Oh. It's probably just a scanner malfunction, these cells are all appearing as if they're brand new, like they were just replicated, but that's impossible, the body replaces individual cells over time, not all at once" she said before looking up at him. He had a distant look in his eyes as he stared at the burnt corpse.

"Is something wrong Rex?" she asked bending over to look him in the eyes.

Rex was about to say something when a scream of pain and alarm cut through the coms in their helmets.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLP PPPPPP!"


End file.
